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Katie Hopkins: On the Spectrum or just plain mean?

Katie Hopkins is a name that many are fully aware of, unfortunately one could say that that awareness is not necessarily for the right reasons. Since her appearance on the hit BBC reality show “The Apprentice” back in 2007 where she infamously “quit” having gained a reputation for being “the queen of mean” and setting up other candidates to fall in order for her to move forward in the competition. Since then she has made various television appearances, one in I’m a Celebrity… Get me Out of Here and the other being in Celebrity Big Brother and in Question Time.

Her main claim to “fame” albeit a dubious one is for her numerous controversial comments attacking various groups in society, from the overweight, to more shockingly migrants, whom of which she deemed “cockroaches” who should all be shot, demonizing all benefit claimants, the disabled, whom of which she deemed “lazy” to Ed Miliband, who she deemed “freaky” and on the spectrum. It seems no matter what the unique defining factor of an individual maybe, one thing that can be guaranteed is that Katie Hopkins will have a viewpoint that she has to share on you, this is normally a negative one.

She has gotten into many spats with celebrities, usually women over certain issues, such as child rearing which was seen when she caused controversy in July 2013 during an appearance on ITV’s This Morning, when she revealed that she judges her children’s classmates based upon their given names. She revealed a particular dislike for the names Tyler and Chardonnay, which met with disapproval from host Holly Willoughby. She then claimed that she did not like “geographical location names” despite the fact that she had given the name India to one of her daughters, stating that India “is not related to a location.”

At that time she was a columnist for British tabloid The Sun. Although other newspapers’ comments about her include “faux-posh imbecile, an insufferable snob and a low-life superbitch”, accusing her of generating outrage on demand, she described herself as a “conduit for truth”, declaring what other people think but are too scared to say.

Appearing as a panellist on Channel 5’s The Big Benefits Row: Live in February 2014, she was accused by Terry Christian amongst others of only expressing her controversial opinions in order to make money from media appearances, this is an opinion shared by many, including myself. However she does have a fanbase. Though personally I feel that her job title should be that of “professional troll” after all, how many people make money from negative, personal comments against vulnerable members of out society.

Even other women’s husbands are not safe, infamously when asked in the interview stage of The Apprentice “would you steal another woman’s husband to get what you wanted?” In which she responded “yes”.

More recently, channel 4 aired the programme “Born Naughty?” in which a team of professionals help to diagnose troubled children who are experiencing problem behavior, in the programme being a nine year old child who was diagnosed with autism a “twat” comparing her to a farm animal and accusing her parents of poor parenting and also sponging off the taxpayer, causing outrage across the country, especially by those affected with the condition, including myself.

The National Autistic Society called on her to apologise and to meet two autistic representatives to gain a better understanding of the condition, nobody is sure on whether or not she accepted or declined this offer.

She has since appeared on a radio broadcast, causing many to be surprised to hear the admission Hopkins made on the radio as she discussed the premise that another condition linked to autism, ADHD, had been “over-diagnosed by doctors” and was really “just excusing rubbish parents”.

One such caller, father Jason, whose son was diagnosed with ADHD, said he sometimes feared that he was a bad parent, and pointed out that some of the defining features of the condition were subtle. He also said that having watched Hopkins’ behaviour in the Celebrity Big Brother house last year, he felt she displayed some of the characteristics of a person with autism.

“I probably am on the spectrum,” she told him. “I did an interview with a journalist the other day, and said, ‘Look I’m definitely on the spectrum’.”

Regardless of whether you agree with some of her opinions, how is it this woman is allowed to have a career causing upset to vulnerable members of society, so much so that she is called “a celebrity?”. In my opinion the only thing you can do is very much the same as someone who is teaching a child going through a temper tantrum. Do not feed the need for attention. Ignore them until they grow up. After all, do we really want her as an example to follow for the next generation?